School board turns attention to Glade

With the completion of the Piney Creek gym project, the Alleghany County Board of Education has turned its attention to needs at Glade Creek School.

Frank Williams and Randy Baker, with Pinnacle Architecture in Andrews, were on hand to help discussion two potential plans—with a net gain of 11 classrooms—for the school with one price tag at $2.8 million and a second plan's cost about $3.4 million.

The $2.8 million proposal would encompass about 19,000 square feet at a cost of $120 per square feet, while the $3.4 million project would involve 29,000 square feet.

Williams told the board there would be "no major change" in terms of the differences in the two projects. Summarizing the differences, Superintendent Jeff Cox said, "Essentially, the main difference is you're getting a new gym and pretty much a new cafeteria and kitchen for the additional $1.2 million. Otherwise, the classroom spaces are fairly similar." Williams added, "The school in either scenario, the school works very well as far as circulation is concerned. We've got plenty of exit ways, anywhere you go, you go outside…."

When the floor was given to the architects at the Jan. 7 meeting, Williams remarked, "Just to give you a little overview, we went out and spent a lot of time at Glade Creek because that's the next one up and met with the principal and she had several items that had been topped on her priority list for a long time..."

One issue is at the front of the school, where individuals can easily walk in, turn down a hall and no one, in terms of school authorities, would ever know they were in the building.

"Although that was not anything to be concerned about in past decades, it is something to definitely be concerned about now," he said.

Looking in the direction where the school's baseball field is currently located and making note of a hallway in the adjacent building, Williams stated, "If we continue this corridor on, we've got the opportunity here to build a whole new school out here if we want to. The only thing is we need land somewhere else for playgrounds, which is an issue at Glade Creek." Williams then pointed around areas on the projection screen that displayed the plan, noting where two, four and six classrooms could be located on the school premises, including where the parking lot is presently located.

 

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